Pretoria - The Independent Municipal Allied and Trade Union (Imatu) in the City of Tshwane has lost its bid to have municipal manager Johann Mettler and two senior managers held in contempt of court for not paying the salaries of their members during an unprotected strike.
This comes after the union launched an urgent application seeking an order of contempt of court against the trio for not paying their members’ salaries.
The City has since hailed the ruling on Friday as a victory against the union, which it said “suffered a heavy blow”.
Municipal spokesperson Selby Bokaba said: “Imatu asked the court to have two senior managers in the Group Human Capital Management Department, including the city manager, held in contempt of court for not paying the salaries of their members during the strike.”
Salaries of Imatu members, he said, were recalled after the City became aware that they were not executing their duties.
“The union also wanted the City to reverse and pay its members’ salaries for the month of August 2023,” Bokaba said.
The union also argued that its members’ dismissal was unfair, “where they held dual membership with another trade union, Samwu, whose members were dismissed for participating in the unlawful and unprotected strike, which began in late July”. Bokaba said the court dismissed all Imatu’s three requests, but stopped short of granting a cost order against them.
“Imatu had always insisted that their members were not involved in the strike. At the end of July, the Labour Court granted the City of Tshwane an urgent interim interdict against its striking employees and declared the strike unlawful and unprotected. Last week, the court made the interim order permanent,” he said.
Reacting to the City’s claim for victory, Imatu regional manager in Tshwane, Lynette Burns-Coetzee, said: “Imatu does not see the victory in the Labour Court for the City of Tshwane as a complete victory.
“The court might not have found in favour of the contempt of court application but Imatu was still victorious in securing payment of salaries of our members whose salaries were not paid in August 2023.”
She told the Pretoria News that Imatu secured an interim order against the City to pay the withheld salaries by September 1, 2023.
Burns-Coetzee accused the City of failing to follow a fair and lawful procedure in the dismissals of workers.
She said one of the 19 dismissed employees were on maternity leave during the strike.
“It is disheartening to see that the City is abusing its power to play political game at the expense of innocent employees who did not participate in the strike and worked while being intimidated during the strike,” she said.
Pretoria News